The last time we looked at FIP for fantasy baseball was back in March. On that list of guys that will fail were Edwin Jackson, Jurrjens, Happ, Arroyo, Wolf, Johan and *small voice* Cain. Now that we have a decent enough sample size for the new season, we can check to see where we’re at in 2010. To remind you, xFIP — stands for Expected Fielding Independent Pitching. It’s basically ERA without those pesky fielders helping or hurting you. It’s a pure ERA. It’s like when you go to the Supercuts and then you don’t want to shower for like 2 weeks because you’ll never get your hair styled again like Jeffrey does it. It’s your hair right after Jeffrey styles it and before you wash it. That’s xFIP. Okay, so let’s take a Exhibit A pitcher, who has an ERA of 2.75, but his xFIP is a 6.75. A -4.00 difference. That means he’s been very lucky and there’s a good chance his ERA is going to go way up. So here’s a list of pitchers with the biggest difference between their actual ERAs and their xFIPs for the first month of the season.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Jamie Garcia
Justin Upton left yesterday’s game with a sprained ankle. It’s obviously not easy carrying around millions of fantasy baseballers’ hopes and dreams. He hurt his ankle while stealing second, then he advanced to third and scored one batter later. I liked Upton 1.0 better, which came with customizable speed and power but no hustle. The good news is Upton wasn’t removed until after scoring, so it doesn’t sound serious. Just precautionary. It’s an exhibition, after all. You know, like when Kenny Mayne ran Daisy Fuentes for Jerry O’Connell in the 2005 Celebrity Softball game. Anyway, here’s some more news in fantasy baseball:
Dustin Pedroia – Left wrist sprain. It’s spraining, men! That’ll teach Pedroia to try and open the pickle jar all by himself. This actually worries me more than the Upton sprain. Injured wrists are tricky for, ya know, hitting. He’s scheduled to take BP on Thursday so hopefully it’s very minor and the pain doesn’t have to, doesn’t have to, doesn’t have to let it linger.
Please, blog, may I have some more?

